Improvement in clothes-rubbers



G. BURKI-IARDT 8L R. S. HOPKINS. Clothes-Rubber.

No'. 214,361. Patented April 15, 1`879.

N. FETES, PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE.

GUSTAV BURKHARDT AND RICHARD HOPKINS, OF HOMER, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN CLOTHES-RUBBERS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 214,361, dated April 15, 1879; application iiled March 6, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GUs'rAv BURKHARDT and RICHARD S. HOPKINS, both of Homer, in the county of Champaign and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Clothes Rubbers, which improvement is fully set forth in the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l represents a cross-section of a rubber embodying our invention. Fig. 2 is a front view of the same.

Similar letters indicate corresponding parts.

Our invention relates to rubbers for washing clothes, in connection with a board placed in a tub to support the clothes; and it consists in a bucket-wheel carrying a series of circumferential rollers, one in each of the buckets of the wheel, combined with a handle formed with a frame for supporting the axle of the wheel, so that by means of the handle the wheel is adapted to be propelled back and forth over the clothes to be washed in a tub, while in this operation the dirt in the clothes is loosened by the action of the rollers, and at the same time mixed air and water are forced through the clothes by the buckets, whereby the dirt is further loosened and partially removed. With the bucket-wheeland frame is combined a stop-pin or other similar device, for holding the wheel stationary, so that it' desired either of the rollers upon the wheel may be used independently for rubbing the clothes to be washed.

In the drawings, the letter A designates the bucket-wheel, the same being divided into a series of buckets, B, by means of radial partitions a. C are the rollers of the wheel, and D is the handle of our rubber. The rollers C are groovcd or roughened, and they are mounted on shafts b parallel to the axis of the bucket-Wheel, at or near the middle of the buckets B, and near the outer edge of the wheel, so that the peripheries of the rollers are upon the circumference of the wheel. The handle D is preferably made of two or more telescopic sections, and the same is secured to a yoke-shaped frame, E, the end parts of which are made to receive the axle c of the bucket-wheel.

It will be seen that while the rollers C have a rubbing action on the clothes upon which our apparatus may be used, the buckets B become filled with air and force the same, together with the suds or water contained in the wash-tub, through the clothes in the revolutions of the wheel, whereby a very rapid and thorough cleansing of the clothes is effected.

The letter d designates a stop-pin, combined with the bucket-wheel B and frame D, for the purpose of holding the wheel stationary when it is desirable, the object being to allow either of the rollers C to be used separately for rubbing the clothes. This stop-pin d is passed through holes formed in the wheel B and frame D, and may be attached to the frame by a chain or cord, and a spring-catch or other similar device may be substituted therefor.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A clothes-rubber consisting of a bucketwheel carrying, circumferentially, a series of rollers, one to each bucket of the wheel, and a handle provided with a frame adapted to form bearings for the axle of the wheel, adapted for use substantially as described.

2. The combination, in a clothes-rubber, of a bucket-wheel carrying, circumferentially, a series of rollers, a handle formed with a frame to support the axle of the wheel, and a device for holding the wheel stationary, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing we have hereunto set our hands and seals this 28th day of February, 1879.

GUSTAV BURKHARDT. [L. RICHARD S. HOPKINS. lL. s]

Witnesses:

OrHo JOHN UPP, GEORGE OAKS. 

